For North Brunswick's Rayner, figuring out the future is a fun job

Wednesday

Jul 13, 2011 at 2:51 PM

Every recruiting analyst I talk with tells me rising North Brunswick senior Keilin Rayner is the area's premier college football prospect in the Class of 2012.

Every recruiting analyst I talk with tells me rising North Brunswick senior Keilin Rayner is the area's premier college football prospect in the Class of 2012.A couple of weeks ago, he visited Maryland, where his step father, Tyrone Simpson, signed out of Laney High School. He also visited Virginia Tech last weekend.Rayner currently has nine offers, including South Carolina, Clemson, Florida International, Duke, North Carolina, East Carolina and N.C. State.He called the process fun and he wants to pick a program where he believes is a better fit and offers sports medicine."Keilin has all the other intangibles that make him a good football player and a good person,'' Scorpions coach Garry Bishop said. "He has great character. Everything is yes sir or no sir and he never talked bad to you.''He also noted Rayner is the first at practice and the last to leave and a team player who did not balk switching positions, such as last year when he moved from defensive end to linebacker.As a lineman, opponents were running away from his side of the field. With Rayner as the team's dynamic tackler, it was only logical to put him at middle linebacker to chase down ball carriers."We thought if Keilin could pick it up fast enough and get down hill fast and we knew he could run sideline to sideline, so he would be a perfect fit if he picks up the reads,'' Bishop said. "He is so aggressive it almost came natural to him. He was meeting blockers in the hole and was getting great angles right off the bat. It is new for him and he exceeded our expectations.''Rayner, 6-foot-3, 225 pounds, had played defensive end since his freshman season and Bishop is not sure he won't play there in college, because of his speed 4.58 in the 40), quickness and projected size.While Bishop readily recites the virtues of Rayner all day, it is clear he is intelligent and soft spoken.He already has qualified academically and Simpson deserves the lion's share of the credit, according to Rayner, for encouraging him to seek tutoring and maintaining a solid GPA.He scored 1,000 in reading and mathematics on the SAT."I know that high school and college won't last forever,'' Rayner said. "There are no promises I will go to the NFL, so if I play hard, I can get an education.''He is not sure if he wants to be a trainer or orthopedic specialist. He already is shadowing the Carolina Sports Medicine staff as part of his senior project. Concussions are the focus of the project, and he is especially interested after he suffered a mild concussion last season on a blind-side block.As far as recruiting, he expects to make a verbal commitment during the season after a series of official visits to see games on weekends, especially at North Carolina, South Carolina, Clemson and East Carolina."I am just taking it all in right now,'' he said.

Staff writer Chuck Carree can be reached at 343-2262 or Chuck. Carree@StarNewsOnline.com.

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.